Materials handling devices

ABSTRACT

An &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;oblique reel&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; materials handling device wherein link bars or tine bars are carried between end members rotating on parallel offset axes and the tine bars orbit in oblique circular paths as in the parallel bar hay rake, but also rotate, each on its own axis, as in the cylindrical reel of the typical pickup of a hay baler, combining advantages of the parallel bar reel with the freedom of tine orientation control of the cylindrical reel in one device for use in a wide variety of harvesting machines and the like.

United States Patent [191 James MATERIALS HANDLING DEVICES [76]lnventor: Wllllam Edward James,

24098 Country Squire Boulevard, Apt. 230, Mt. Clements, Mich.

[22] Filed: Dec. 18, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 99,580

[52] US. Cl 56/130, 56/2, 56/l2.4,

56/226, 56/364, 56/366, 56/377 [51] Int. Cl A0ld 45/22 [58] Field ofSearch 56/2, 12.4, 14.4, 56/220, 226, 227, 364, 366, 377, 130, 400, 167

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 470,061 l/l892 Lindley56/226 1,047,147 12/1912 Bamford 56/366 1,195,172 8/1916 'Bamford 56/3662,506,980 5/1950 Verger 56/167 818,899 4/1906 Martin 56/377 3,151,43510/1964 Johnston..... 56/377 2,991,613 7/1961 Breed 56/377 1 Aug. 14,1973 3,338,036 8/1967 Hurlburt 56/227 X 3,472,008 10/1969 Hurlburt56/226 1,707,878 4/1929 Roosa 56/364 UX 3,282,408 11/1966 Lohrentz...56/227 X 2,654,984 10/1953 Fiess 56/226 Primary Examiner-Russell R.Kinsey Assistant E aminer l. AttorneyB. Franklin Griffin, F. PrinceButler et al.

[5 7] ABSTRACT An oblique reel materials handling device wherein linkbars or tine bars are carried between end members rotating on paralleloffset axes and the tine bars orbit in oblique circular paths as in theparallel bar hay rake, but also rotate, each on its own axis, as in thecylindrical reel of the typical pickup of a hay baler, combiningadvantages of the parallel bar reel with the freedom of tine orientationcontrol of the cylindrical reel in one device for use in a wide varietyof harvesting machines and the like.

3 Claims, 19 Drawing Figures Patented Aug. 14, 1973 3,751,888

5 Sheets-Sheet 1 3 FIG.1

III I INVENTOR HG 3 WILLIAM E.JAMES Patented Aug. 14, 1973 5Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG.6

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FIG.8

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INVENTOR WILLIAM E.JAMES Patented Aug. 14, 1973 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 FIGBFIG.|2

FIGJI VIN/IV! I" M Mun/Tr INVENTOR WILLIAM E.JAMES Patented Aug. 14, 1973 3, 751,388

5 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR WILLIAM E.JAMES Patented Aug. 14, 19733,751,888

5 Sheets-Sheet :1

INVENTOR WILLIAM E.JAMES MATERIALS HANDLING DEVICES A wide variety ofharvesting machines employ a cylindrical reel type device in which tinesare carried on parallel bars individually rotatable and controlled bycam and followers at one end of the reel. In a pickup on a hay baler,for example, the cam is shaped so that the tines project radiallyoutward between guards around the bottom, front and top of the reel tointercept and lift material from the ground. Then, where material istransferred to other elements of the machine, each tine bar is rotatedto give the tines an inclination such as to release the material andwithdraw below the guards as they proceed around the back of the reel toreturn to the ground to intercept more material.

There are a number of limitations and difficult comprises inherent inthis simple device, especially as herein described for the pickupapplication. It is commonly known that a relatively wide tine spacing(about 4 inches) causes significant losses of material in someconditions. Decreasing the spacing (to about 2% inches) reduces losses,but the number of rocks and the like picked up often increases to thepoint that related problems such as knife breakage in the machineovershadow gains in harvested yield.

It has been recognized that a transverse motion of the tines canincrease a pickups efficiency of intercepting crop material on theground (US. Pat. No. 2,829,485). Also, the commonly known parallel barhay rake has demonstrated widely a simple and reliable device providinga transverse tine motion and attendant efficient interception ofmaterial (US. Pat. Nos. 800,662 and 818,899). This simple parallel barreel, though opportune as a raking device, can not serve as a pickupsince the tine bars do not rotate as they orbit around the reel, and thetines point always toward the ground, lifting out of the material on theground and not picking it up.

Various means have been invented for pivoting the tine bars on their ownaxes in the parallel bar reel in its application as a rake to allowmaking fluffy, better aeratedwindrows or to provide more effectivetedding (US. Pat. Nos. 1,047,147, 1,195,172, and 3,151,435). Still, inthese variations the tines always point generally toward the ground and,during a full turn of the reel, each tine bar exhibits absolutely nocumulative rotation. That is, compared to a stationary reference, eachrow of tines, during each complete orbit around the reel, merely swingsforward and backward or is only ad justable and doesnt pivot at allduring operation of the reel.

It is a primary object of this invention, therefore, to provide apractical new reel type materials handling device, hereinafter referredto as the oblique reel", wherein each tine bar is rotatable about itsown axis and, during each complete revolution of the reel, exhibitscumulative rotation on said axis.

It is another object of this invention to provide an oblique reel deviceas described in the preceding object wherein tine bar rotation, and thustine attitude, is controlled by cam and follower means to allow broadflexibility in employing this device in a wide variety of applications.

It is another object of this invention to provide a practical newoblique reel pickup device.

It is another object of this invention to provide a practical newoblique reel raking device.

It is another object of this invention to provide a practical newoblique reel device easily convertible from pickup action to rakingaction and vice versa.

It is another object of this invention to provide a practical newoblique reel header reel for combines and the like.

It is another object of this invention to provide a practical newoblique reel crop picking device.

It is another object of this invention to provide an oblique reel deviceas described wherein tine bar rotation, and thus tine attitude, iscontrolled by means other than cam and follower means.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will becomeapparent in the following specification and drawings wherein:

FIGS. 1 3 depict a pickup based on the oblique reel, FIG. 1 being a sideelevation section (line 1 1 in FIG. 3), FIG. 2 showing the cam andfollowers as viewed from-section line 2 2 in FIG. 3, and FIG. 3 being asectional plan view taken along line 3 3 in FIG. 1.

FIGS. 4 6 are sectional plan views of the tines of a representativeconventional pickup with wide spaced tines, a conventional pickup withnarrow spaced tines, and the oblique reel pickup of FIGS. 1 3 (line 6 6in FIG. 3) respectively demonstrating comparative tine action.

FIGS. 7 and 8 are diagrammatic side elevation views of a conventionalpickup and an oblique reel pickup re spectively showing relative actionupon material as it is intercepted and picked up.

FIGS. 9 l2 depict a convertible device based on the oblique reel andconstructed similar to the pickup of FIGS. 1 3 except that the cam isrotatable about a central axis and, with the cam positioned as in FIG.9, the tines describe a pickup action as in FIG. 10, while after the camis rotated to the position of FIG. 11, the tines describe a rakingaction as in FIG. 12.

FIGS. 13 15 show a header reel based on the oblique reel, FIG. 13 beinga plan view (with partial sectioning), FIG. 14 being a sectional sideelevation view (line 14 14. in FIG. 13), and FIG. 15 being a partialfront elevation view (line 15 15 in FIG. 13) of a tine bar showing tineshape and action.

FIGS. 16 and 17 show partially a bean snapper reel based on the obliquereel, FIG. 16 being a front elevation view and FIG. 17 being a sideelevation view (line 17 17 in FIG. 16).

FIGS. 18 and 19 are a partial sectional plan view and a sectionalelevation view (line-l9 19 in FIG. 18) respectively of a header reelsimilar to that of FIGS. 13 15, but with the tine bars rotated by linkand lever means.

In detailed reference to the drawings, in FIGS. 1 3 a'pickup generallyindicated by numeral 30, illustrating one particular embodiment of thepresent invention, is

shown-in such configuration as to readily replace a conventional pickupon a typical harvesting machine such as a hay baler, for example. Theframe, generally indicated by numeral 31, like that of a typicalconventional pickup, is a weld assembly consisting of a tubular crossmember 32, a right arm 33 (bottom of FIG. 3), a left arm 34, seven upperguard supports 35 (FIG. I), and seven lower guard supports 36. A leftbean'ng hub 37 with bushings 38 is affixed to left am 34, rotationallysupporting drive shaft 39 which can be driven at its free projecting endin any conventional manner. On the inside of left arm 34 (below it inFIG. 3), drive shaft 39 is keyed to, at its right end, with key 40, andsupports for rotation therewith, left spider 41 having three bearings 42spaced equidistantly around its periphery having axes parallel to driveshaft 39. Each bearing 42 has journaled in it a hub portion ofa gearbox43 containing bevel gears 44 and 45 splined respectively to an inputshaft 46 and an output shaft 47. Each input shaft 46 projects from itsgearbox 43 through the hub portion of gearbox journaled in bearing 42 sothat its projecting end extends beyond the left side (upper right inFIG. 3) of left spider 41, while each gearbox 43 is supported forrotation on the opposite side. Each output shaft 47 exits its gearbox 43at an angle (70 supplementary angle shown) to its corresponding inputshaft 46 and is telescoped at its projecting end into one end of atubular tine bar 48 aligned therewith. Three such tine bars 48 extendparallel to each other, one from each gearbox 43, toward right arm 33,each pinned to its corresponding output shaft 47 for rotation therewithby mounting one of six tines 49 affixed evenly spaced along each tinebar 48 so that its mounting bolt extension passes through both outputshaft 47 and tine bar 48. At their opposite ends, at the right side ofthe pickup 30 (bottom of FIG. 3), each tine bar 48 is journaled in anend support 50, each end support 50 having a stub shaft portionextending toward right arm 33 at an angle (70") from its correspondingtine bar 48 and parallel to corresponding input shaft 46 and bearing 42at the left side (top of FIG. 3). A right spider 51 is supported forrotation about an axis parallel to the stub shaft portions of endsupports 50 on bushings 52 contained therein and piloted on shaft andsupport plate 53 affixed to right arm 33 for this purpose. Right spider51, like left spider 41, has three bearings 54 spaced equidistantlyaround its periphery having axes parallel to the axis of rotation ofright spider S1 and to the axes of the stub shaft portions of endsupports 50 which are journaled therein. As left spider 41 is rotated byshaft 39, then, right spider 51 is caused to rotate in timed relationwith it, the tine bars 48 linking them, and orbiting bodily therewith ingenerally the same way as in the parallel bar rake.

But, here the mechanism and resulting tine action of the oblique reel ofthis invention departs significantly from the parallel bar reel. It isevident in FIG. 3 that the tine bars 48 are rotatable, each on its ownaxis as already described. In each gearbox 43, bevel gears 44 and 45,having a one-to-one ratio, cause output shaft 47 and tine bar 48 torotate in unison with input shaft 46. At its projecting end on the leftside of left spider 41, each input shaft 46 has affixed (shown welded)to it a follower lever 55, to the other end of which a follower roller56 is affixed, its axis parallel to input shaft 46. Affixed to left arm34 a face type cam 57 is situated parallel to left spider 41, its grooveencircling drive shaft 39 and restricting movement of follower rollers56 between the two flanges forming the groove therein. Thus, as thereel, generally indicated by numeral 58, revolves, follower levers 55are caused to rotate, and through means of input shafts 46, bevel gears44 and 45, and output shafts 47, the tine bars 48 with affixed tines 49rotate, each in unison with its corresponding follower lever 55 andfollower roller 56, the tine bars 48 and tines 49 completing onerevolution for each full turn of the reel 58. The cam 57 is shapedsubstantially as in a conventional pickup as shown in FIG. 2 so that thetines 49 project generally radially outward at the bottom and front andtop of the pickup (FIG. I) through spaces between guards 59 partlysurrounding the reel 58 and affixed to guard supports 35 and 36. Aninward curve of the groove in cam 57 at its upper rear quadrant (upperleft in FIG. 2) causes the tines 49 to maintain a generally verticalattitude while withdrawing through the guards at the top in FIG. 1,while an outward convolution in the cam 57 in its lower rear quadrantrapidly rotates the tines 49 faster than the reel 58 so that they againpoint generally downward when they reach the bottom of the reel 58 as ina conventional cylindrical pickup.

Thus, the oblique reel of this invention combines the transverse tinemotion of the parallel bar reel with the controlled tine bar rotation ofthe cylindrical reel, the tines 49 sweeping obliquely to one side nearthe ground in this pickup application to intercept material, projectingradially outward to lift material at the front, then moving obliquelytoward the opposite side at the top of the reel 58 to deliver thematerial into the harvesting machine. The guards 59 are more complex inshape than those of a conventional pickup as seen in FIG. 3, the tophalves (not shown in FIG. 3) having generally the same form as thebottom portions shown.

In FIGS. 4 6 the tine action of the oblique reel pickup is compared withthat of conventional pickups as the tines sweep along the ground tointercept material. FIG. 4 is a sectional plan view of the tines 60 of acylindrical pickup having a wide tine spacing S,,,, the arrowsindicating the tines paths as they travel over the ground. Arepresentative stem of hay 61 is shown aligned generally parallel tothese paths of travel, the orientation in which stems are most likely tobe missed by the tines 60. A representative rock 62 is shown passingbetween the tines 60 also, an advantage of course, and the main reason,after cost, that most pickups have a relatively wide tine spacing. FIG.5 is a sectional plan view of the tines 63 of a cylindrical pickuphaving a narrow tine spacing S,,. The same stem of hay 61 in this caseis intercepted as shown, but the rock 62 is also caught and is much morelikely to be picked up and fed into the machine. Still, a more slenderstem 64 goes between the tines 63 when aligned parallel to tine travelas shown, and it is common to find most of the stems of hay lyinggenerally parallel to tine travel of the conventional pickup. FIG. 6 isa sectional plan view of the tines 49 of the pickup of FIGS. 1 3 (line 66 in FIG. I) having the same wide tine spacing S as the cylindricalpickup of FIG. 4. Arrow V indicates the tine velocity relative to themachine, that is, the tine path with the machine stationary. Themachines forward velocity V,, adds vectorially to the oblique tinevelocity V as shown, resulting in the actual tine velocity over theground V,-. Thus, the effective spacing of the tines 49 is 8,, muchnarrower than the actual spacing S,,. As shown, stem 61 is interceptedby the tines 49 sweeping transversely to it. Even the slender stem 64 ismore likely to be intercepted, and, even if it were lying parallel tothe oblique tine motion indicated by the arrows extending downward tothe right in FIG. 6, it still would be as likely to be picked up as withthe cylindrical pickup with narrow spaced tines 63 of FIG. 5. To evenfurther increase the oblique reel pickups interception efficiency theforward velocity of the machine V, can be reduced to give a more obliqueresultant tine motion, further narrowing effective tine spacing 8,,effective tine spacing approaching a minimum value S,, the

effective spacing with the machine stationary. The oblique broken linesin FIG. 6 represent the tine paths with the machine stationary. The wideactual spacing S of the tines 49, however, allows the rock 62 to passbetween them as easily as between the equally wide spaced tines 60 ofthe cylindrical pickup of FIG. 4. Also, while the tines of a cylindricalpickup will roll a large stone or the like forward, the tines strikingit several times, finally to pick it up, the oblique reel pickup willtend to roll such foreign objects to the side, reducing the chances ofpicking them up even if such objects will not pass between the tines.

FIGS. 7 and 8 are diagrammatic side elevation views of a cylindricalpickup and an oblique reel pickup respectively. The smaller forwarddisplacement d of the material 65 from the point of interception P bythe tines 66 of the oblique reel pickup of FIG. 8 as they lift material65 compared to the much larger displacement D of the conventional pickupof FIG. 7 is another advantage. Inclining the oblique reel pickup abouta generally transverse axis as shown further augments this advantage,reducing the projection of the guards 67 ahead of the interception pointP. Longitudinally compressing intertwined stems of material such as hayin a windrow has been shown to cause the stems to be much more easilydetached from the mass, as fibers from a rope, contributing to loss ofmaterial. Also, longitudinal movement between stems within the windrowcan cause branches and leaves to be broken from the stems, a majorsource of loss in legume crops where the leaves contain a highpercentage of the total nutrient value. The tines of the oblique reelpickup as in FIG. 8, moving at a considerable angle to the windrow withthe majority of the stems in it lying generally parallel to the windrow,push the windrow more laterally than longitudinally, tending to hold themass of stems together rather than telescoping them loosely into eachother.

Referring again to FIGS. 1 3, another significant characteristic of theoblique reel in its pickup application is its oblique tine motion at thetop of the reel 58. After moving at a high angle to the right of thedirection of travel of the pickup 30 at its bottom as already described,and then rising at the front with a diminishing lateral component, thetines 49 move increasingly back toward the left until, at the top of thereel 58, they move at the same high angle'(70 in this case) to the leftof the direction of travel. Material being moved over the top of theguards 59 then, will be continuously carried toward the left as it isfed into the machine. This feature will allow important design economiesin machines employing the oblique reel pickup, reducing or eliminatingthe need for other feeding elements normally required with thecylindrical pickup to gather material or feed it laterally into themachine as in the typical baler for example.

FIGS. 9 12 show a variation of the pickup application of the obliquereel wherein a cam 68 comparable to cam 57 of the pickup of FIGS. 1 -3is rotatable about an axis perpendicular thereto, in this case the axisof drive shaft 69 comparable to drive shaft 39 of the pickup of FIGS. 13. The cam 68 is positioned as in FIG. 9 to provide pickup action as inFIG. 10, the tines 70 pointing generally radially outward between guards71 to lift material 72. The cam 68 can be rotated to a second positionas in FIG. 11 so that the tines rise from the ground remaining generallyvertical as shown in FIG. 12, and with the oblique tine motion, thedevice acts as a side delivery rake, raking material 72 into a windrow.Thus, the oblique reel makes possible a convertible device which, bysimply rotating a cam 68, can be changed from a pickup to a rakingdevice or vice versa. Of course, such a device could take the form ofconditioner of the type that lifts material over the reel to aerate it,and could form windrows by picking the material up as in FIG. 10 anddelivering the material to the side on top of the guards, thendepositing it at one side to the rear of the device. Also, an obliquereel pickup with a rotatable cam as described mounted on a machine suchas a baler primarily for use as a pickup could be used as a rake to formor turn windrows.

In FIGS. 13 15 another version of the oblique reel is shown .in the formofa new type of header reel to replace the cylindrical reel commonlyemployed in conjunction with the cutter bar in grain combines and directcutting forage harvesting machines and the like. A

header reel typically has an arm at each side supporting it in generallythe same manner that arms 33 and 34 support the pickup reel 58 of FIGS.I 3, and the reel 73 of FIGS. 13 15 would be supported in similarfashion. Shown is a left spider 74 (bottom of FIG. 13) mounted forrotation about a central axis and having four bearings 75 spacedequidistantly around its periphery with axes parallel to said centralaxis. Each bearing 75 has joumaled in it the stub shaft portion of aU-joint 76, four such U-joints 76 being thus supported on the right sideof left spider 74. The opposite end of each U-joint 76 is telescopedonto one end of a tine bar 77 and is pinned thereto by pin 78, four tinebars, thus supported at their left ends, extending parallel to eachother at an angle to the axis of spider 74 (35 supplementary angleshown). At their right ends each tine bar 77 is joumaled in an endsupport 79 having a stub shaft portion extending toward the rightparallel to the stub shaft axes of U-joints 76. Adjacent to the rightends of tine bars 77 a right spider 80 is supported for rotation about acentral axis parallel to those of the stub shaft portions of endsupports 79 and to the axis of left spider 74. Right spider 80 also hasfour bearings 81 spaced equidistantly around its periphery with axesparallel to its central axis and to the stub shaft portions of endsupports 79 which are joumaled in the bearings 81 thus aligned. Thus,the tine bars 77 are supported as connecting links between the twospiders 74 and 80, and orbit bodily with the rotating spiders 74 and 80,and at the same'time are rotatable on their own axes, being joumaled attheir right ends in end supports 79, and at their left ends beingsupported by U-joints 76 which are joumaled in bearings 75 on leftspider 74. At the left side of the oblique reel 73 thus formed (bottomof FIG. 13), to the stub shaft end of each U-joint 76 projecting on theleft side of left spider 74, is affixed (splined) a follower lever 82,the other end of which carries a follower roller 83 axially aligned withthe stub shaft portion of U-joint 76. A face type cam 84 is affixed to aleft support arm (not shown), its groove encircling the central axis ofleft spider 74 adjacent to and parallel to it and restricting followerrollers 83 to follow between the two flanges forming the groove of cam84. The outer flange of cam 84 is shown partially cut away to expose oneof the four follower rollers 83. As the reel 73 revolves as indicated inFIGS. 13 and 14, the follower rollers 83, restricted within the grooveof cam 84, cause follower levers 82, thus forced to trail generallybehind their pivot axes on the stub shaft portions of U-joints 76, torotate also. Thus, each U-joint 76 and its corresponding tine bar 77 isrotated individually by its corresponding follower lever 82, each tinebar 77 and the tines 85 affixed thereon making a complete revolution foreach 360 of rotation of the reel 73.

In FIG. a partial front elevation view taken from line 15 15 in FIG. 13shows a tine bar 77 and affixed tines 85 descending as indicated by thearrow in the lower left of FIG. 14. In this lower front quadrant of thereel 73 the tines 85 move not only rearwardly and downwardly, as in FIG.14, but also transversely as indicated by the arrows labeled V in FIG.15. The tines 85 are formed so that they extend from the usual verticalorientation at a considerable transverse angle (25 shown) allowing themto penetrate downward into the stalks 86 with their oblique motion witha minimum tendency to push the stalks 86 down. This combination oftransverse motion and transversely angled tines increases the tendencyof the tines 85 to cross the stalks 86 at an angle as in FIG. 15 andthus, to engage the stalks 86 more positively. As they move rearwardlyover the cutter bar generally indicated by numeral 87 in FIG. 14, thetines 85, due to their transverse motion and inclination, will tend tolift the stalks 86 as indicated by the arrow L in FIG. 15. This liftingtendency can be important in preventing crop material already partiallyfallen down from being even further pushed down and run over by thecutter bar 87, and the more positive engagement will reduce the chancesof blockages over the cutter bar 87 and on the inclined feed table 88which is found on many machines. Also, in FIG. 14 can be seen animportant advantage of the oblique reel in its header reel applicationwhen compared to the parallel bar type reel (US. Pat. No. 3,338,036),the tines 85 having a variable inclination to tilt tips forward toefficiently engage the crop at the front of the reel 73, and then toincline oppositely at the rear to be generally perpendicular to the feedtable 88 to easily lift material up its inclined surface.

FIGS. 16 and 17 show partial views only of the three tine bars 89 andattached tines 90 of another highly inclined oblique reel as in thepickup of FIGS. 1 3, but here in the form of a new type of bean snapperreel 91. FIG. 16 is a partial front elevation view of the machine as itadvances along a row of bean stalks 92, the tines 90 combing upwardthrough the stalks 92 to snap bean pods 93 from them. It is evident inthis view that the oblique reel is much narrower than a cylindrical reelof comparable diameter or vertical tine displacement, and thus, canoperate between rows of narrower spacing 8,. With typically two reels,one combing each side of each row, the advantage in reduced row spacingand corresponding increased plant population density could be veryimportant. In FIG. 17 a partial side elevation view of the tine bars 89and tines 90 shows their elliptical, almost circular, paths providingsynchronization of the tines 90 with the stalks 92 (lower vectordiagram). The velocity of the tines 90 with respect to the machineV,,,,, upward to the rear (to the right in FIG. 17) adds vectorially tothe machine's forward velocity 1,, giving a resultant tine velocity V,generally vertical as compared to the high horizontal component with acylindrical reel. Thus, the tines 90 start upward between the stalks 92with much less tendency to bend them, break them off, or pull them outof the ground. Toward the top of the reel 91 tine motion becomes a moreforward pointing vector V,', but at this higher level a given lateraldisplacement produces much less angular deflection of the stalks 92 andmuch less force between the tines and the stalks 92 with correspondinglyless tendency to break the stalks 92 or pull them out.

Returning to the header reel 73 of FIGS. 13 15, the relatively lowinclination of the tine bars 77 t0 the axes of the spiders 74 and 80 (35chosen for this particular application allows using simple, low costU-joints 76 instead of gearboxes as in the pickup of FIGS. 1 3. It willbe recognized that a wide variety of couplings, universal joints, gears,and linkages and the like can be used for transferring motion from thecam and followers to the tine bars in any given version of the obliquereel of this invention depending primarily upon the aforementioned angleof inclination.

Referring to FIGS. 18 and 19, it will be evident that the presentinvention is not limited specifically to cam and follower means foraccomplishing rotation of the tine bars. FIG. 18 is a partial sectionalplan view (line 18 18 in FIG. 19) of a header reel (one side only shown)similar to that of FIGS. 13 15, generally indicated by numeral 93,having, instead of a cam and followers, a link 94, a lever 95, andknuckles 96 and 97 simply connecting each of four tine bars 98 to thespider 99. FIG. 19, a sectional elevation view of the reel 93 (line 1919 in FIG. 18) shows an axial end view of the tine bars 98 journaled inend supports 100 (FIG. 18) which are journaled in turn in the spider 99as the end supports 79 of FIG. 13 are journaled in bearings 81 of spider80, both ends of each tine bar 98 being thus supported for rotation onits own axis. As the reel 93 revolves, the tine bars 98 with theirattached tines 101 are caused to rotate generally with it, a lever 95affixed to each tine bar 98 and connected to the rotating spider 99 by alink 94. Each link 94 is connected at one end to the spider 99 by aknuckle 96 having a stub shaft portion inserted for rotation in a holein spider 99 and held in place by a pin 102, the link 94 being threadedloosely into the opposite end of the knuckle 96 to allow these two partsto pivot relatively about the axis of the link 94. Another knuckle 97similarly connects the opposite end of each link 94 to one of fourlevers 95. It will be seen that, due to the inclination of spider 99 tothe tine bars 98, as the reel revolves, the links 94 exhibit acontinuously changing inclination with respect to levers 95, theknuckles 96 moving laterally with respect to the knuckles 97 at oppositeends of links 94 (FIG. 18). Thus, the tines 101, as viewed in FIG. 19,have a delayed rotational relationship to the reel 93 on the left, andan advanced rotational relationship to it on the right, rotation beingclockwise as shown. Thus, this simpler mechanism provides a tine actionvery similar to the cam and follower type of FIGS. 13 15.

It will be understood, therefore, that numerous variations andapplications are possible within the scope of this invention, and thatthe foregoing is intended to illustrate and describe the invention andnot to limit its scope beyond that of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A crop harvesting machine of the type which is adapted for travelingin a forward direction along rows of pod-bearing plants and picking saidpods from said plants comprising:

a picker reel means having a reel axis within a vertical planesubstantially parallel to said forward direction and comprising:

parallel offset axes and to which respective ends of said tine bars aremounted for revolving about said offset axes.

3. A crop harvesting machine as claimed in claim 2 wherein said tinedriving means further comprises tine bar mounting means for mountingsaid tine bars on said end members and for allowing said tine bars torotate individually about axes substantially parallel to said tine bars.

1. A crop harvesting machine of the type which is adapted for travelingin a forward direction along rows of pod-bearing plants and picking saidpods from said plants comprising: a picker reel means having a reel axiswithin a vertical plane substantially parallel to said forward directionand comprising: tines revolving about said reel axis for combing throughsaid plants to pick said pods; and, a tine driving means for drivingsaid tines with a motion having a velocity component relative to saidcrop harvesting machine parallel to said reel axis.
 2. A crop harvestingmachine as claimed in claim 1 wherein said tine driving means comprisesbars on which said tines are mounted; and, end members which arerotatable about substantially parallel offset axes and to whichrespective ends of said tine bars are mounted for revolving about saidoffset axes.
 3. A crop harvesting machine as claimed in claim 2 whereinsaid tine driving means further comprises tine bar mounting means formounting said tine bars on said end members and for allowing said tinebars to rotate individually about axes substantially parallel to saidtine bars.